Installing and Configuring the Custom Facebook Feed WordPress Plugin

How to install and configure the Custom Facebook Feed WordPress plugin, from downloading it in your account to setting up a feed.

Would you like to install the Custom Facebook Feed plugin and display your first Facebook feed on your website?

In this guide, we’ll walk you through downloading the plugin, installing it, entering your license key, connecting your Facebook account, and creating a feed. To follow along, you need your Smash Balloon account and a Facebook profile that has a role on the Page you want to display.

If you’re using the free version of Custom Facebook Feed, read Move From the Free Plugin first, so your settings carry over.

Here is what we will cover.

• Move From the Free Plugin
• Install the Plugin
• Enter Your License Key
• Connect Your Facebook Account
• Create a Feed
• Display the Feed

Move From the Free Plugin

The free version and the paid version of Custom Facebook Feed are two separate plugins. The paid version won’t activate while the free one is active. Swap them in the order below. Skip this section if you have never used the free version.

1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Facebook Feed » Settings and stay on the General tab.
2. Turn on Preserve settings if plugin is removed. This keeps your feeds and settings saved even when the plugin is uninstalled. When it’s off, deleting the plugin removes them.
3. Click Save Changes.
4. Go to Plugins » Installed Plugins and click Deactivate under the free Custom Facebook Feed plugin.
5. Follow Install the Plugin and Enter Your License Key below to install and activate the paid version.
6. Back on Plugins » Installed Plugins, click Delete under the free plugin. Your feeds and settings stay in place for the paid version.

Whether you moved over from the free plugin or are starting fresh, the next section covers downloading and installing the paid version.

Install the Plugin

After you buy the plugin, download it from the Downloads tab of your Smash Balloon account. The download link and your license key are also emailed to the address you used at checkout.

Don’t open the .zip file. You upload it to WordPress as it is.

Note: Safari opens .zip files automatically after downloading. To turn that off, follow these steps.

1. In Safari, open Safari » Settings (or Preferences) » General.
2. Uncheck “Open safe files after downloading”.

To upload the plugin to your site, follow these steps.

1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins and click Add Plugin at the top of the page.
2. Click Upload Plugin.
3. Click Choose File, select the .zip file you downloaded, and click Install Now.
4. When WordPress says the plugin installed successfully, click Activate Plugin.

For more help with uploading a plugin, see How to Install a WordPress Plugin.

A Facebook Feed menu now appears in your WordPress dashboard menu. Next, you’ll activate the plugin with your license key.

Enter Your License Key

The paid version needs your license key to activate. The key also gives you access to plugin updates and support. The key box sits on the General tab of the settings page. Keep your key from your account or the email at hand.

1. Go to Facebook Feed » Settings and stay on the General tab.
2. In the License Key box, paste your key into the field.
3. Click Activate. When it works, the box says your Custom Facebook Feed Pro license is Active. The button changes to Deactivate.
4. Click Save Changes.

If the key has no activations left, the plugin shows an error that explains your license has reached its site limit. To free up a spot, see managing the sites on your license. If the license still won’t activate, follow our guide for a license key that won’t activate.

If you ever need it, the Test Connection link under the key box checks that your site can reach the license server. The Manage License link takes you to your account.

If you came here from Move From the Free Plugin, go back to its last step to delete the free plugin.

With your license active, you’re ready to connect your Facebook account.

Connect Your Facebook Account

A feed needs a source, which is the Facebook Page it shows posts from. You connect a source the first time you create a feed.

Facebook (Meta) no longer lets you generate a Page ID and Access Token to enter by hand. The connection has to be made by someone who has a role on the Page.

If you’re connecting an account on behalf of someone else, the simplest way is to ask the Page owner to give you a role on it. Then connect the Page with your own Facebook profile.

If the owner can log in to your WordPress site, they can also connect the Page themselves from Facebook Feed » Settings » Manage Sources.

For the other options, see our guide to connecting a Facebook Page for a client.

Connecting a source is part of creating your first feed. The steps are in the next section. Here is what the Facebook screens ask for along the way.

1. When you add a new source, the plugin shows a message that it’s redirecting you to connect.smashballoon.com and then takes you to Facebook. If you’re not logged in, log in first. Then click the Continue button.
2. Facebook asks which Pages to use. Select the Pages you want to display and click Next. If you’ll use the plugin on several sites, select all of your Pages here. You choose the Page for each feed later.
3. Review the permissions the app asks for, click Done, and then click OK to return to your WordPress dashboard.

Important: Your feed may not work properly if you turn off any of these permissions.

Note: These permissions don’t let the plugin manage your Page settings, edit it, or post to it. They only let the plugin get a read-only Access Token for your Page, which it uses to retrieve the posts you want to display.

Next, you’ll create your first feed and connect a source along the way.

Create a Feed

A feed pairs a source, which is the Facebook Page it shows, with the layout you choose. You set up both in the builder.

1. Go to Facebook Feed » All Feeds and click Add New.
2. Under Select Feed Type, click the type you want, such as Timeline, and then click Next.
3. On the Select a Source screen, click Add New. If you have already connected a Page, select it, click Next, and skip to step 7.
4. After a few seconds, the plugin takes you to Facebook. Follow the Facebook screens described in Connect Your Facebook Account.
5. Back in WordPress, the Select a Facebook Page list shows your Pages. Select one and click Add.
6. Select your source on the Select a Source screen and click Next.
7. If the plugin shows Start with a Theme, choose a theme and click Next. Not every license level shows this screen.
8. On Start with a template, choose a template and click Next. You can customize everything afterward.
9. In the feed editor, click the edit icon next to the feed name at the top and type a name for your feed. Next, adjust the options on the left. Then click Save.

Your feed is now saved, and you’re ready to display it on your site.

Display the Feed

Once your feed is saved, the editor gives you the shortcode to place it on your site.

1. In the feed editor, click Embed.
2. Copy the shortcode, for example [custom-facebook-feed feed=1], or click Add to a Page or Add to a Widget to use a WordPress block or widget.
3. If you copied the shortcode, paste it into any page, post, or widget, and then save or update it.

To change a feed later, go to Facebook Feed » All Feeds and click the edit button on the feed.

That’s it! You now know how to install Custom Facebook Feed, activate your license, and display your first Facebook feed on your site. To get an alert if your feed ever stops updating, see Getting Alerts When Your Facebook Feed Stops Updating. If you have any issues, check our Facebook Feed docs for solutions to common problems, or contact support.